Attempted Reading

For the last month I’ve attempted to read the first book in the Faerie Wars Chronicles by James Herbert Brennan. This is another young adult fantasy series that usually would take me about a week or so of nightly reading to get through. But that’s not the case with this book. It’s not a necessarily hard read or complicated by any means. On the back cover that I have you can see that it was once the YALSA top pick, it was also ALA‘s “Best Book For Young Adults”.

So going in I had high hopes, really I did. Fantasy action with fairies…key ingredients for a fun read. The first chapter started off well, the writing style was easy to follow and the main character seemed likable. However it left off on a weird note. Something that didn’t really seemed to mesh with the rest of the chapter, almost like he wanted to through some controversial drama in to make people keep reading. That’s what a writer usually does but it wasn’t necessary and it didn’t fit. So right there I could feel my interest waning. However I’ve never been one to completely give up on a book, especially after the first chapter. I might sat it down and forget about it for a year only to rediscover it in an old bag hidden in the back of the closet…at any rate I kept reading.

Only to find that the second chapter changed topics completely and read as a second book. I’ve read books like that read like two separate story lines and found that some authors struggle to bring the two stories together and some are a master at it. But when it doesn’t work…it just doesn’t work. Obviously Mr. Brennan has some talent and this book has some lovers out there, but I’m afraid I’m just not one of them. I’m about halfway through chapter nine and I have never been so confused about the premise of a young adult book. My main issues boil down to a few main points.

1. The set up is extremely long and arduous, like I said I’m at chapter nine and the story is still in set up mode as in what I think are the main characters are just meeting and obviously there is something amiss.

2. Pieces are missing in the set up. Meaning the author seems to think the reader is going to catch on to the setting and how things work in each world. Which is weird when you switch from what seems to be reality and a more fantasy world but isn’t all that different from reality.

3. Why that weird cliffhanger. It bothers me so much.

One day I’ll finish this book and rather or not I read the rest of the series is a different question. Now spill is there a book that you just can’t bring yourself to read and/or finish? What about book that got great raves but didn’t live up to the hype?